Beverage-vending machine



April 15 1 924. 1,490,763 G. H. BRINKLEY BEVERAGE VENDING MACHI NE Filed Feb. 26, 1920 w 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Patented Apr. 15, 1924.

GEORGE E. BRINKLEY, 0F BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

BEVERAGE-VENDING MACHINE.

Application filed February 26, 1920. Serial No. 361,396.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that GEORGE H. BRINKLEY, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Baltimore, State of Maryland, has invented new and useful Improvements in Beverage-Vending Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a vending machine for dispensing beverages such as soda water fountain drinks and the like of which the foundation is a syrup or flavor to which is added a prescribed quantity of carbonated water, and the purpose in View is to provide an arrangement of agencies by which quantities of the materials to be combined to form the beverage may be regulated and fresh glasses or drinking vessels presented by the vendees to the end that a plurality of operations of the mechanism may be secured under a single charging operation controlled only by the capacity of the machine and of the vessels employed for containing the ingredients of the beverage, and with these objects in View the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the apparatus with the front wall of the casing omitted to show the interior construction.

Figure 2 is a Vertical sectional view on the plane indicated by the line 2-2 of Figure 1.

Figure 3 is a detail vertical section on the plane indicated by the line 33 of Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a horizontal section on the plane indicated by the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Figure 5 is a detail view of the ratchet wheel or spring tensioning member.

It will be understood that the shape of the casing and the particular arrangement of the cooperating members located therein are merely typical of the apparatus which embodies essentially an operating member which is provided with an actuating element such as a crank handle or lever 10, normally locked against movement as by means of a latch 11 which is adapted to be tripped by means of a coin inserted in the ordinary way into the inlet end of a coin chute 12, an actuating or storage spring 13 which is adapted to be tensioned by the movement of the operating means and is designed to serve as the actuating unit, operating through appropriate motion transmitting elements to open and close dispensing valves 14 and 15 which respectively regulate the discharge from reservoirs 16 and 17 containing the ingredients of the proposed beverage and permit 01 their discharge through a dispensing nozzle 18 into a suitable glass or drinking vessel 19, and a feeding mechanism for the drinking vessels, to present them successively at a suitable outlet 20 in the casing, within reach of the vendee, said mechanism being adapted for actuation by the operating means.

In the illustrated embodiment of the apparatus the operating handle or crank 10 is attached to a rocker 21 consisting of a frame provided with a pin 22 normally engaged by the shoulder of the latch 11 of which the tail 23 is located in the coin chute in the path of a coin deposited in the latter, the latch being pivoted on a fixed part, as at 11 so that whenthe tail of the latch is depressed by the weight of the coin the shoulder of the latch is disengaged from the pin 22 to permit the rocker to be moved upon the pivotal center 24 against the tension of a return spring 25. Carried by the rocker is a ratchet bar 26 pivoted as. at 26 and toothed for engagement with the correspondingly toothed periphery of the ratchet wheel 27 to which is attached one end of the spring 13 to the end that when said ratchet wheel is turned by the movement of the rocker said spring is tensioned with reference to a spindle 28 to which the other end of the spring is attached and which carries a pinion 29 in mesh with a gear 30. The return movement of the ratchet wheel after the tensioning of the actuating spring is prevented by means of a spring-actuated pawl 31 carried by the ratchet wheel engaging a ratchet disk 32 mounted on the spindle 28. The forward movement of the ratchet arm due to the movement of the rocker is guided by a lateral pin 33 traversing a yielding cam guide 34 which is terminally free to permit 100 said pin to pass beyond the extremity thereof when the rocker reaches the limit of its forward or full-stroke movement, whereupon the release of the operating handle or lever, permitting the rocker to be returned 106 to its normal position by the return spring 25 causes the pin 33 to traverse the upper side of the cam guide whereby the ratchet arm is lifted out of engagement with the ratchet wheel. At the rear end of the cam :2 eeogcs guide the pin 33 is again released to permit the ratchet arm to drop into engaging relation with the ratchet wheel.

The spindle 35 of the gear 30 is represented as a crank shaft of which the arms 36 are connected by links 37 with the valve stems 38, and when as in theconstruction illustrated the said gear wheel 80 is designed to make one complete revolution for each operation of the mechanism, a stop pawl 39 is employed to engage a seat ll) in a stop disk 42 carriedby the spindle 35, said pawl having a trip arm 43 arranged in the path of a trip pin i lcarried by the rocker frame 21. Thus when, a coin having been inserted into the chute to release the rocker, the operating handle or lever 10 is swung forward by the vendee, theactuating spring 13 is tensioned, and at the moment of disengagement of the ratchet arm from the ratchet wheel the trip pin a l operating upon the trip arm 43 of the pawl 39 releases the gear 30 which, actuated by the pinion 29 makes one complete revolution to open then close the valves 1dand 15 and thus permit the flow of the ingredients for the beverage respectively from the reservoirs 16 and 17, the former, for example, being that designed for carbonated water to the end that it is introduced into the glass or drinking vessel 19 through the nozzle 18 under pressure as from the ordinary commercial soda water fountains. Supplemental controlling valves 45 and 46 may be provided in the tubes a7 and 48 leading from said reservoirs to the casing of the valves i l and 15, and a removable cap 49 may be provided for the reservoir 17, designed lor the syrup or flavoring ingredient,

, to permit of refilling or charging the same.

Carried by the rocker frame is an arm 50 connected with one end of a lever 51 which is fulcrumed at 52 and carries a pawl 53 for engagement with ratchet teeth 54 on a rotary table 55 designed to support the glasses or drinking vessels 19, to the end that each movement or the rocker serves to bring a ii-ssh glass within reach of the vendee through the access opening 20. A pawl 56 engaged with a ratchet 57 on the under side of the table serves to prevent backward movement of the latter. It will be noted also that the discharge or dispensing nozzle 18 is made of serpentine form to have the efifect of thoroughly mixing the carbonated water or charged liquid and syrup as they pass therethrough.

What is claimed is:

l. A beverage vending machine having an vintermittently movable valve controlling 60' mechanism including actuating spring, a manually operable rocker and means carried thereby for tensioning said actuating spring,

releasable locking mechanism for the rocker,

and stop mechanism for the valve-controlling means releasable by the spring-tensioning movement or the rocker.

2. A beverage vending machine having a valve-controlling mechanism including a crank shaft and an actuating spring for the same, a manually operable rocker, a spring tensioning means including a ratchet wheel and a ratchet bar carried by the rocker, a trip cam for disen aging the ratchet bar from the ratchet wheel during the return movement of the rocker, a releasable locking device for holding the rocker in its normal position, and a stop mechanism for the crank shaft including a pawl having a trip arm in the path of spring-tensioning movement of the rocker. I

3. A beverage vending machine having valve controlling mechanism including a or: ii shaft and an actuating spring'ior the same, a manually operable rocker yieldingly held in its normal position, spring tensioning means consisting of a ratchet wheel and a ratchet bar carried by the rocker, coin controlled loclring means for the rocker, and stop mechanism for said crank shaft includ ing a pawl having a trip arm located in the path of spring tensioning movement of the rocker.

4. A beverage vending machine having valve controlling mechanism including a crank shaft, and an actuating spring for the same, a manually operable rocker yieldingly held in its normal position, spring tension means including a ratchet Wheel and a ratchet bar carried by the rocker, a yielding cam guide and a guide pin on said ratchet bar for disengaging the latter from the ratchet Wheel during the return movement of the rocker, coin controlled locking means for the rocker, and stop mechanism for the crank shaft including a pawl having a trip arm and a trip pin carried by the rocker 1 r releasing the stop mechanism at the limit of the operative movement of the rocker.

5. A beverage vending machine having valve controlling mechanism including a crank shaft and an actuating spring for the same, a manually operable rocker having a GEORGE H. BRINKLEY. 

